Kristen Brastad is a Water Treatment Engineer at the A. O. Smith Corporate Technology Center, in Milwaukee, WI. Kristen established the A. O. Smith biosafety level one Water Treatment Laboratory and serves as the company's Biosafety Officer. At A. O. Smith, Kristen is also responsible for the research and development of residential drinking water treatment products for Asian markets. Kristen has both her bachelor of science degree architectural engineering and her master's of science degree in environmental engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering. She is currently pursuing her PhD at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee in the Environmental Biotechnology and Bioenergy Laboratory, where she is researching novel saltless water softening techniques. Kristen is a member of the American Water Works Association (AWWA), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). She is also a founding member of the UWM student Chapter of AWWA.